Coyotes make history at Eastern C

The Dodson Coyotes have made history by winning the school's first Boy's Divisional trophy since 1966.

The Coyotes did so by going 3-1 at the 2020 Eastern C Divisional tournament in Glasgow last week and defeating the Froid-Lake Redhawks 53-50 in the consolation finals on Saturday, February 29.

Last season, the team won it's first divisional game since 1966 and this season the team passed the next milestone, showing growth.

"They grew because we played as a team and bonded more," Coach Frank Benson said. "Their fundamentals are also better. They pass with two hands, played way better defense. We also control the game. We were happy when we won a game at districts a couple of years ago."

The Dodson Coyotes defeated Plentywood Wildcats in the opening round of the tournament but fell 59-39 to the Fairview Warriors in the semi-finals on Thursday. They then defeated the Lustre Christian Lions 59-42 in the consolation quarterfinals on Friday, to reach the consolation finals against Froid Lake.

In their win over Froid-Lake, the Coyotes were led by seniors Corbin LoneBear and Shaun Ball who each had 15 points. LoneBear had eight rebounds. Ball scored 12 of his points in the second half.

"We just played our game, at our tempo," Coach Benson said. "We played three different defenses to throw them off. They are young, so they get a little riled up facing different defenses."

Junior Jeramiah Benson scored 10 points, had seven rebounds, and five steals.

Both teams had a strong first quarter with Froid-Lake outscoring Dodson 18-16 in the first quarter. The Coyotes bounced back outscoring the Redhawks 10-7 in the second quarter and 13-9 in the third quarter. Dodson was outscored in the fourth 14-16 but the team had success at the free-throw line, knocking down six of their seven attempts late in the game. Ball hit the last four attempts giving Dodson the lead and ultimately putting them up by three.

"It was unbelievable because we won on free throws," Coach Benson said. "We haven't hit them all year, but we won on free throws."

Though the team won the third-place trophy, the group did not even realize that they made history. Instead, they were hoping that they would be able to play in a challenge game, to go to state.

"We were happy because we thought that we might get to play again," Coach Benson said. "We weren't even thinking about third place at the moment. It's a lot easier to end on a win than a loss."

The challenge game did not happen because later that day Scobey defeated Fairview 59-36 for the title.

In Dodson's first game of the tournament against Plentywood, the Coyotes were led by freshman Julian Benson who had 27 points. He had 21 points heading into halftime.

"He pretty much won the game," Ball said. "He took over. He was a big part of this win with everything that he did. That was the first time I have seen him go off like that."

Zarek Jones had 16 points, 10 rebounds. LoneBear had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Dodson went into halftime up 34-23, but Plentywood pushed back outscoring the Coyotes 21-16 in the third.

"We started off good but in the middle of the game we started to get sloppy and had to get back into it," LoneBear said, mentioning that the team needed a pep talk. "We went back at them stronger."

In Dodson's loss to the Warriors, the Coyotes were led by Ball who had 13 points. LoneBear had nine points and seven rebounds. Je. Benson had eight points and three steals. Ju. Benson had six points and two steals.

Dodson went into the second quarter with a 10-7 lead, but things fell apart in the second and third quarters and were outscored 17-9 and 17-4. Fairview kept the pressure on in the fourth, outscoring Dodson 18-16.

Dodson was 14-of-47 (29.8 percent) from the field, while Fairview was 17-of-36 ( 47 percent). Fairview made it to the free throw line for 29 attempts and made 19 shots (72 percent).

In Dodson's win over Lustre Christian, the Coyotes were led by Ju. Benson, who had 17 points, four assists and two steals. Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds. LoneBear had 13 points and six rebounds.